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Anticipation builds for Playstation release

Savannah Morning News

Sida Chet, 19, foreground, waits in line with his brother, Sineth, 17, right, outside a Best Buy store Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 14, 2006, in Jacksonville, Fla., for a chance to buy Sony's PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 3 goes on sale in the United States on Friday, Nov. 17. Sida staked his place in line Monday around midnight and has been taking shifts with his brother to hold their place. In the background is Jim Terrell who started the line Sunday afternoon.

Savannah Morning News

Adrian Brooks, 15, who goes to Jenkins High School, played NBA 07 on a demo Playstation 3 at the Best Buy on Abercorn. Playstation 3 will be in stores Friday.

Savannah Morning News

A woman who identified herself as Allison, left, and a man who identified himself as Lance Patrick, center, both part of the 3rd ID at Fort Stewart, started camping out at the Best Buy on Abercorn Monday at 4 p.m. to be first in line to buy Playstation 3, which will be in stores Friday. Greg Scott, right, had a conversation with the two campers but is not planning on buying a Playstation 3.

The countdown to the Friday release of Sony's PlayStation 3 has begun, and in Savannah, some people are going as far as camping out to secure custody of the hotly anticipated gaming system.

Two devoted fans have been keeping vigil outside the Best Buy on Abercorn Street since Monday. A man who identified himself as Lance Patrick and said he is stationed at Fort Stewart with the 3rd Infantry Division, set up a chair, bed and cooler and has been waiting with another soldier who would identify herself only as Allison. Patrick said he was surprised there weren't more people already lined up.

"There's about 50 or 100 people already at the Best Buy (in Tampa) where we're from," he said. "The managers here (in Savannah) said the line was down to Goody's when the XBox 360 came out."

Patrick said the managers at Best Buy had been very nice to them, allowing them to use the bathroom during store hours.

Passerby Drew Pearson stopped by Tuesday night to chat with Patrick. He said he might start camping out tomorrow, too.

"How many did they say you could get?" Pearson asked Patrick. "Only one per household," Patrick responded.

Kevin Grant, Best Buy's manager, said the store won't know how many PlayStations they will be getting in until Thursday night.

"Once we find out how many we're getting, we'll let the people outside know the number, and that the rest of them probably won't get one, but you never know," Grant said. "We would hate to have someone wait out there all night and not get one."

Other stores in Savannah also don't know yet how many systems they will be getting in. Manufacturing errors have severely limited the supply of systems that will be available Friday.

At Target at the Savannah Mall, manager Mimi Le said the store's policy is first-come, first-serve when it opens at 8 a.m. Friday. She said the store will give out tickets to the first people in line, much like Best Buy.

Circuit City on Abercorn will also take a first-come, first-serve policy, manager Chad Dorman said, but no tickets will be handed out. The store is also not taking any reservations for systems. It opens at 8 a.m.

Inside Best Buy on Tuesday, Adrian Brooks, 15, stood transfixed as he tried out the store's display copy of the PlayStation 3.

"I love the graphics," he said. "It looks better. But I gotta get used to this new control."

Brooks' dad, Eric, stood nearby as his other children squirmed. When asked if he would buy Adrian one of the PlayStations, which starts at $499.99, he had a simple answer.

"Hell no," he laughed.

SONY: SOME GAMES INCOMPATIBLE WITH NEW SYSTEM

TOKYO - Sony's new PlayStation 3 can't play some of the games designed for previous generations of the popular console, even though it was billed as being fully compatible.

For instance, the PS3 might not play background music to the popular "Tekken 5" combat game, and some scenes from the "Gran Turismo" racing game might freeze. Meanwhile, a virtual gun in one of the "Biohazard" games won't fire properly.

Some older games won't run on the PS3 at all, according to Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka.

Online upgrades of the PS3 software will be offered, but it's unlikely that all the problems will ever get fixed, he said.